Toothbrush



Sept. 3, 1968 M. FALLESEN 3,399,947

TOOTHBRUSH Filed Feb. 17, 1966 FIG. 2

. ied SW8 Pa Y 3,399,'947' r TOOTHBRUSH 1 .Mai Fallesen,Hagersten, Sweden, assignor to Maifa mTekuiskaAktiebolag, Stockholm, Sweden I FiledFeb, 17, 1 966, Ser.-No..537,5.96 1 Claims priority, applicationSweden, Feb. 17, 1965,

' 1' Claim, (Cl. 401-173) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toothbrush has a cavity for dentifrice which is supplied by a passage to the brush head. A piston reciprocating in the cavity is connected by a piston rod to an actuating knob. A valve controlling said passage is slidingly supported on the piston .rod; two resilient diverging arms of the valve body are engaged by an inner extension of the knob when the latter is pushed inwardly in the valve closing position and release the knob when it is pulled outwardly to open the passage for the dentifrice pushed out by the piston.

The present invention relates to a toothbrush of the type which in the shaft contains a tooth-cleaning agent or dentifrice which in different manners can be extruded into the bristles in the brush head.

Previously known toothbrushes of the said type possess a number of disadvantages, e.g. on account of too large dimensions or their construction; they have been awkward to use and the extrusion opening for the dentifrice in the brush head has been subject to clogging due to the drying of the dentifrice. The toothbrush according to the invention does not possess the said disadvantages.

. The present invention relates to a toothbrush consisting ofa handle and a brush head which in the length wise direction has a cavity running from a plane near the outer end of the handle through the same and further through the brush head and out through its end. Said cavity has, at least in the handle, the form of a container or a cylinder for the tooth-cleaning agent or dentifrice, which container preferably has a rectangular, quadratic or circular cross section. The dentifrice is fed through the cavity towards the brush head by a piston, located in the dentifrice container. The said piston is brought to displace the dentifrice by the pulling action of a rod, one end of which is attached to the piston and which runs through the whole length of the cavity, the other end of the rod being attached to a pull knob at the outer end of the brush head.

The part of the above mentioned cavity which is present essentially in the brush head and which is termed the valve chamber, has a rectangular cross section and therefrom and, more closely, from the part thereof which is most close to the handle, a'duct is arranged which ends among the bristles in the brush head. -In order to prevent the dentifrice to dry in the duct so as to clog the same a movable-valve element is arranged in the valve chamber; Said element-has the form of a piston which fits up against the walls of the piston chamber and which, furthermore, in the end turned towards the brush head, has two branches which are flexibly springing outwards and which essentially fit tightly to the part of the valve chamber near the brush head end, the side walls of which forms an angle against the lengthaxis of the toothbrush. Between the two branches of the valve element there is a hollow space which is apt to receive a guide extending from the pull knob, the inner end of said guide being rounded.

The invention is further illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawing in which FIG. 1 shows a Patented Sept. 3,1968

toothbrush according to the inventionin section and viewed from above (the pulling knob being in the feeding position) and FIG. 2 shows the same brush in section and viewed fromthe side (the pullingknob being in the closed position). I V

On the drawing the handle is, marked '1, the brush head 2, the cylinder or container for the dentifrice in the handle is marked 3, whereas .4 indicates the.,pis,ton present in the container, which piston tightly fits tothe inner wall of the container. As has been mentioned above, the cross section of the container is preferably rectanlgular, quadratic or circular. The pulling rod connected to the piston is marked 5.

The valve chamber is marked 6 and the outlet opening for the dentifrice is marked 7. The said outlet opening is preferably inclined towards the end of the brush head 2 and ends among the bristles of the head. The valve element for closing the outlet opening 7 is marked with 8, whereas its flexible branches are. marked 9. As has been mentioned above, the valve element 8 has a tight fit against the walls of the valve chamber 6 so that there is no leaking of dentifrice. The part of the valve chamber 6 that is facing the brush head is enlarged in a wedgeform in the plane shown in FIG. 1 against the said end to the formation of stop knobs 10 which delimit the movement of the valve element 8 to the right on the figure, whereas the movement towards left of the valve element 8 is delimited by stop knobs 11. The pull rod 5 runs free through a hole in the valve element 8 so that the said details are freely movable in relation to each other in the lengthwise direction of the brush. Between the branches 9 0f the valve element 8 there is a space which is so formed and dimensioned that, when the branches are in the position against the stop knobs 10, it may freely receive a locking knob 12 on the pull knob 13 which, furthermore, has a guide 14.

The toothbrush according to the invention functions as described below.

From a suitable dentifrice container the dentifrice is injected in the opening 7 for filling the container 3. During the filling operation, the pull knob 13 and thus also the valve element 8 is in the position shown in FIG. 1, the opening 7 being free. For the outlet of the enclosed air the container 3 is suitably provided with an air-escape duct, preferably located in the end of the handle. When the injection of dentifrice is finished the pull knob 13 is pressed to its inner position, the locking knob 12 being introduced between the branches 9 of the valve element 8 and the latter is then pressed to the left on FIG. 1 until close to the stop knobs 11 so as to close the outlet opening 7 and to cause the branches 9, by the wedge-form of the valve chamber, to be pressed against each other so as to lock the pull knob in the closedposition.

Prior to the use of the toothbrush the pull knob 13 is pulled out so as to cause the valve element 8, which then is fixed to the locking knob 12, to follow the movement of the pulling knob until the flexible branches 9 have come to a stop against the locking knobs 10. The outlet opening 8 is then free and on further pulling the pull knob 13 the piston 4 feeds dentifrice which is extruded from the opening 7. When a sufficient amount of dentifrice has beeen ejected the pull knob 13 is returned to its inner position as shown in FIG. 2, the valve element 8 being closed to the locking knobs 11 and the opening 7 being closed. After use the brush is cleaned with running water.

The toothbrush according to the invention is suitably manufactured from a plastic material which in a known manner is formed by extrusion. Preferably, the plastic material is opaque,

What I claim is:

1. A toothbrush comprising a handle and a brush head carried by one end of said handle, a cavity of uniform cross section serving as dentifrice container in said handle,

said inner knob means .thereby pushing the..valve.means into closed position, and said inner knob means being released by said arms whenthe outer knob is pulled outwardly thereby placing the valve means in the open posipiston rod connecting said valve actuating means with said 5 tion.

piston, said valve means being slidingly supported on said piston rod and being provided with resilient diverging arms, means limiting the movement of said valve means on said piston rod between open and closed position, said valve actuating means having an outer knob and inner knob means, said inner knob means entering said diverging arms when the outer knob is pushed inwardly and References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner.

R. PESHOCK, Assistant Examiner. 

